James Holman Traveled Over 250,000 Miles in the Early 1800s. He Was Also Completely Blind.

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 3 January 2019

⏱️ 84 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

He was known simply as the Blind Traveler. A solitary, sightless adventurer, James Holman (1786-1857) fought the slave trade in Africa, survived a frozen captivity in Siberia, hunted rogue elephants in Ceylon, helped chart the Australian outback—and circumnavigated the globe, becoming one of the greatest wonders of the world he so explored.

Today I'm talking with Jason Roberts, author of one of my all-time favorite history books: A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History's Greatest Traveler. We get into all the impossible-to-believe stories that come from Holman's life, including:

-- Holman retraining his senses to use echolocation to “see” the world around him through sight and touch
- -Summiting Mt. Vesuvius as it was on the brink of eruption
-- Riding horses at full gallop
-- Negotiating peace between the British navy and islanders in Equatorial Guinea

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the History Unplugged Podcast.
0:05.4	The unscripted show that celebrates unsung heroes, Mythbust's historical lies, and rediscoveres
0:11.9	the forgotten stories that changed our world.
0:15.5	I'm your host, Scott Rank.
0:20.3	Hey everyone, I am super excited for this episode and this interview today because I am
0:28.9	featuring the author of probably one of my favorite history books of all time.
0:33.2	I'm talking with Jason Roberts who is the author of the book A Sense of the World, how
0:38.0	a blind man became history's greatest traveler.
0:40.5	We're going to talk all about the life of James Holman.
0:44.2	He was a solitary blind traveler who lived from 1786 to 1857.
0:50.1	And every story that you hear about him, you think, that can't be possible.
0:54.3	That's the most unbelievable thing I've ever heard someone do.
0:57.6	And then you hear another story that tops that.
0:59.6	So just a few examples.
1:01.2	He fought the slave trade in Africa.
1:03.4	He survived the frozen captivity in Siberia when he was trying to travel overland on Russia,
1:09.1	on nothing but a sledge, but the driver who didn't speak the same language as him and
1:12.4	actually almost made it.
1:14.2	He hunted elephants in Sri Lanka.
1:17.4	He helped Tarthi Australian outback.
1:19.8	He circumnavigated the globe on sales ship before steam engines were around.
1:24.3	He traveled a quarter million miles, the distance from earth to the moon, more than 10 times
	...

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